


To Take the Stars

by insertnerdyjokehere



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-01 23:45:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2792048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insertnerdyjokehere/pseuds/insertnerdyjokehere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bones gets Jim a present for his birthday... sort of.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Take the Stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [one_catastrophe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/one_catastrophe/gifts).



> Birthday present for scientist-left-to-our-own-demise! Sorry it's a bit late. 
> 
> Thanks to Elevatordancer for going over it for me.

Traveling around in space made the concept of a “year” pretty difficult to nail down. Away missions that lasted four or five days by Earth standards might technically be a year long planetside. Planets spin in different directions and at different speeds and the orbits around stars are as unique as, well, stars in the sky. But on the Enterprise, time was measured in standard Earth days.

Leonard McCoy sat at his desk in the CMO’s office. They had just embarked on their five year mission and so far so good. Five years was a long time to be stuck on a tin can hurtling through space and thinking about it made Leonard’s stomach twist. Earth will orbit it’s sun five times before he sets foot on it again. Sometimes Jim would take him to the observation deck and point to a spec of light amongst millions and tell him that was where home was. Leonard could never really tell where exactly Jim was pointing and thought that Jim was making it up just to make him feel better. Then again, knowing Jim, he wouldn’t be surprised if the kid really did know. 

On the desk in front of him sat a small box carefully wrapped in gold paper. There was a tag attached by ribbons that read; To Jim Kirk in Leonard’s unintelligible chicken scratch.

One year. 

It had been one year to this day.

One year minus two weeks that Khan had threatened everything that the federation stood for. One year minus two weeks that Jim Kirk had sacrificed his life to uphold everything that the federation stood for. One year since Jim Kirk opened his eyes and came back to him. So, McCoy rationalized to himself, in a way it was sort of Jim’s birthday. 

It was a stupid idea. He doubted that Jim would remember, that he would think that this day was any different than all the other days that bleed together on a starship. It’s wasn’t too late to change his mind and stop his sentimental self from making him look like an ass. Making up his mind he reached to put the gift away to be forgotten when Jim came through the door unannounced.

“Hey Bones. How’s your afternoon going? Did you know that there is absolutely nothing exciting going on in this quadrant? Well, Spock says that there’s an astronomical anomaly that could change our understanding of life as we know it but it’s not exciting. Also, I have this- What’s that?” 

Bones was frozen with the box half way into the drawer, like a deer caught in the headlights. All his crisis training and quick thinking skills had flown out the window. “What’s what? Nothing. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Years of medical school and academy training wasted.

“Really? Because it looks like a present and I see my name written on it.” Uhura had once thought McCoy’s handwriting was an unknown language and there’s Jim, reading it from across the room as if it were a neon sign.

Bones winced as he realized he’d been caught. Huffing out a sigh and muttering something about nosy starship captains, he stood and walked around the desk. He looked at Jim for a beat before holding out the box as if it were a burden that he wanted to get off his hands.

“Now, I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. A joke of sorts. Not to say that I think it’s funny just that I’ve been friends with you long enough to know that you get all gloom and doom on your real birthday so I figured that maybe-” He trailed off and avoided looking at Jim, hands still outstretched as he offered the box to him.

Jim confused expression melted into a teasing smile, “Bones? Did you get me a birthday present?”

Instead of answering, Bones scowled and shoved the present into Jim’s chest. As Jim scrambled to catch the box, Bones turned away “It’s stupid.” A red flush creeping up his neck.

“Do you want me to open it now?” 

A pained expression crossed his face at the idea of experiencing even more embarrassment but Jim was already untying the ribbon. He set the box down on the desk and carefully took the lid off. There was a long silence as Jim stared into the box. After a moment he reached in a pulled out a brass disk about as wide as his hand. It looked like a protractor with numbers and markers set at even increments around the circle. In the middle was a clock-like hand that stretched across its diameter. 

“It’s an astrolabe. I know it’s the most useless thing you could have on a starship but I just know how much you love antiques and I figured it was right up your alley and I mean if it’s stupid you can just throw it out.”

Bones was too busy looking down to notice Jim’s awed expression as he traced the circles engraved in the metal.

“I’ve always wanted one. I asked for one for my birthday when I was little but Frank- But I never got one.” There was a pause as realization hits him, “You went through a lot of trouble to get this didn’t you?” A stupid question because Jim already knew how difficult it must have been to find. Something in Jim’s brain seemed to click into place and Bones’ uncharacteristic bashfulness suddenly made sense. He could see all the feelings he had been hiding away reflected in the nervous shuffle of Bones’ feet. It was never just Jim pinning away after his best friend; it was the both of them being too stubborn to do anything. He didn't need to ask. Somewhere, Jim had known all along that they loved each other.

“No. I just… happened to find it.” Bones muttered to his feet.

“Is that so.” Jim set the astrolabe down and walked over to Bones who looked progressively more interested in the scuff marks on his boots.

“Yep. I mean, I practically found it in a dumpster-” He looked up and stopped short when he noticed how close Jim had gotten. It was a surprise when Jim pressed his lips to his, but on the other hand it felt like they'd been building up to this moment for a long time. 

It was a chaste kiss that ended before Bones really had a chance to figure out it was happening, but when Jim pulls back and smiled nothing really needed to be said. They both already knew everything that could be spoken between them at this moment, and although they probably should have some sort of heart to heart and actually says things to each other, for now it was more than enough. Bones carefully grabbed Jim’s face with both of his hands and pulled him back in for another kiss, achingly tender and light leaving Jim a bit breathless. 

They separated and looked into eachothers eyes for a moment. Bones opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Jim.

“We should probably head over to the surprise party that Uhura put together.” 

“How did you- oh nevermind.”

Jim gave him a quick kiss on the lips before he grabbed his hand and lead him out the door.


End file.
